Songs My Father Taught Me
by PlathRamsey
Summary: "After she passed, my dad shut down and he functioned, but he didn't really seem to feel anything. Then one day he comes home and he's laughing and telling stories." It was because of his new partner, Elizabeth. How Kyle met and fell for Elizabeth. Takes place after the death of Gabe's mother. Told from Gabe's POV.
1. Letters to my Father

_**After she passed, my dad shut down and he functioned, but he didn't really seem to feel anything, At first, I was scared, but after five years, I just figure it... It's who he is. And then one day he comes home and he's laughing and telling stories. It was like someone had flipped the on switch, his new partner, your mom. Three years is a long time. You have to consider love as a possibility, even if you don't want to. My dad loves your mom. He keeps a picture of her on his bedside table and he wouldn't do that unless he loved her.** \- Gabe, episode S1-08. Half Baked._

I was nine years old when my dad went away. Mom was dead. Dead meant never coming back. Dad hadn't spoken the entire weekend of funeral arrangements. My father was an emotive fire and when he loved, he loved **hard**. I heard him cry himself to sleep every night, cry himself through meals until he stopped sleeping and eating altogether. He hadn't stopped crying until he placed soft soil over mom's grave- then he stopped speaking to me.

Until the first sunny day after mum passed. "Dad... we have each other, right?"

Dad turned from me and stared out the window with a hardened expression, as if he'd been staring into a rainy, stormy view. "I'm not sure anymore, Gabe."

I was a terrified child, clinging to the only parent I had left. I tried again that evening. "Dad, the nice lady from church brought over some meals. I think you should eat something. You are worrying me."

My father brushed over my worry easily, he scoffed cynically. "Church was your mother's thing. "

I didn't understand his tone. It was angry and rude.

"I'm angry at the man upstairs, Gabe."

"Dad" I almost cried. "They just want to help. They are keeping us in their prayers."

Tears stammered in my father's eyes as he shook his head. "Prayers? Why weren't my prayers answered to cure my wife? Huh? It is a little late for prayers now! Where were YOU then God!?" Both fists shook angrily at the sky then crashed down onto our kitchen table, collapsing it. I yelled out in anxiety and ran away from my crazy dad.

Years went by... as did father's episodes. Almost everything in our place was destroyed during one of my father's pity parties. I could sense deep shame in his stare when he confronted the chaos he caused.

I was afraid of dad's new animosity. . . But I was also afraid of losing his attention. One night as he walked through our front door I popped in a feverishly violent and perverse video game. He was so upset these days I figured this would turn his temper into tough love. Strict parenting, a stern talking to, even a spanking. It would become an outlet for his rage and by association make him active in my life.

Dad was unaffected by the savage sound effects and walked right on passed. It hadn't surprised me anymore. Kyle the Great was a shell of a former man. I accepted it. He was a robot that lost function. No soul, no laughter. Just a detached cynic going through the motions of his life and dreaded day job.

I followed my father into the kitchen where he was cracking open a can of beer. "I got fired today, son"

My dad seemed rather calm for a single father with one income. I was no longer a young boy, but on the cusp of teen-hood. I could go out and land a paper route. "What happened, dad?"

My dad actually, ALMOST cracked a smile. At the very least he was enjoying himself. "I punched a customer in the nose today."

Now I hadn't felt like blowing my after school days on a paper route. Not if he was going to be this irresponsible to piss on our future. "The FUCKS wrong with you? Life ain't some game, dad. I thought after losing mom that would make a bit more sense to you. Your temper is out of control and you couldn't give less a fuck!"

I was never sure of my father's expression that day. I stormed out of the house and hopped on a bicycle and biked and biked away. I fantasized that my dad took to heart my words, but he was so callous and emotionless these days I was sure it was just a fantasy, until the next day when he arrived to pick me up from school. "Dad?"

He was dressed in a blue police man's uniform. He glanced down toward me and nodded. He looked as if he'd been up all night thinking and was being uncharacteristically considerate.

"Gabe, you were right. I need to stop taking my anger out on you and our house and furniture. Instead I can take my anger out on bad guys. There are just too many good women out there losing their lives. They could have been someone's mother, someone's... wife. Women with full lives ahead cut short by killers. **I'M** going to be the one to put these men behind bars."

Now I didn't think his motivations for being an officer were the best. It had been so long since he was gung-ho about anything that never would I dare deter him.


	2. A New Friend

After extensive months of training in the police academy Kyle was ready. After graduation he was told he'd start out pairing with a Detective. The police Chief believed in the partnership. Elizabeth was a quick-thinking, quick-acting Detective whose downfall was her emotion. She had an emotional agenda for joining the force and often times her emotions impaired her judgment. She'd take on more than she could chew and sometimes she'd over-estimated herself. The Rookie officer on the other hand didn't think with emotion but solid logic and a detachment. The idea was that the strengths of one officer would compensate for the weakness of the other.

Kyle's stood in the back of the police station and started to suit up for his first day. He slapped his bullet proof vest on and fastened his blue uniform over it. Kyle reached for his utility belt when a tall muscular blonde walked in. She grabbed her belt as well and fastened it around her waist before slipping a gun inside the holster. "You must be Officer Medeiros"

Kyle looked at her hand as if it would have exhausted him to shake it. He paused a second before slapping his palm firmly against her. He shook it impersonally, very firm and quick. He wasn't one for human contact these days. Elizabeth looked down at her hand as he freed it and tried to smile through the noticeable tension. "So, Officer, would you be comfortable completing a walk through?"

"If it is all the same to you, Detective, I'd prefer we just get to work."

"Ah, a man that likes to get straight to the job. I like that." The friendly blonde complied as she opened the door for him. "After you."

* * *

The first day on the force was rather uneventful. Mostly just waiting at intersections around high schools to catch speeding teens. It left a lot of room for conversation and since there wasn't much of it, the time consisted mostly of awkward silence. Elizabeth tried to make small talk and it was either ignored by Kyle or at best answered with a yes or no.

Elizabeth relaxed her passenger seat of the squad car. "As boresome as days like this are, it still beats being at home."

Kyle gazed out of the car window. "I'm sure I'm avoiding worse."

"HAHA! That's a laugh!"

Kyle squinted his eyes at the sun. "I didn't mean to be a prick. Like you I'm going through some shit at home."

Elizabeth rubbed her arm. "It is okay, Kyle. I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at anyone but him or her. Sometimes David for leaving the children unattended. Sometimes myself. But always he or she." I'm just so angry, Kyle! I think if I ever found myself face to face with him or her, I might kill them. I'd have no restraint."

Kyle fasted his hands on the steering wheel of the squad car. "I'm angry too. At God. At the bastard Doctor for not doing more. I needed to take out my aggression some way or else I was going to go insane. I shot with 100% accuracy during my target practice tests because I-"

"Envisioned their face on the bullseye?" Elizabeth interrupted and when he nodded she knew all too well.

 **...**

"I think that was enough for our first day as partners. See you tomorrow, Rookie."

* * *

The next day the Chief of Police assigned the pair to chase a lead on some grand theft auto in the area. They were told to lay low at a local diner where a tip came in that the dealer might be meeting with some buyers. Elizabeth took a seat across from Kyle in the booth so they could survey all areas of the restaurant. "God! I hope this punk shows his face real soon! I'm so angry using that taser would really help me blow off some steam!"

Elizabeth looked at Kyle with worry and fear. "You told me you were angry... but never why."

"Psht, neither did you." Kyle picked up a menu to look casual.

Elizabeth nodded. She couldn't expect him to fork over answers if she was reserved about her troubles. _"Before I became a cop... I was a stay at home mother of twin girls. One afternoon when my girls were just three David and I were arguing. David is my writer husband... but it has always been his pipe-dream. We were arguing about money. I wanted him to get a real job that would bring home a paycheck. The girls got out and we were both so distracted we aren't even sure how long they were outside. My daughter runs inside without her sister and starts crying that a car took off with my other daughter inside. Nothing has ever been happy since. I'm a paranoid wreck that I'll lose my other daughter. David and I had another child and he was both two months premature. I almost had one dead kid on my hand and one kidnapped from under me. Our marriage has never been the same. In a sense I've blamed and resented him for our daughter's kidnapping. I dedicated my life to apprehending her kidnapper and won't rest until I do. Every moment I wake up I wonder if today will be that day. I salivate for the day I will be face to face with the person who abducted my child._ **Now, how's that for introductory?** " Elizabeth smiled through the pain as she finished her enormous backstory off with lightheartedness.

The waitress brought over a bowl of sugar, a metal cream pitcher and two cups of black coffee.

Kyle ignored the waitress as he started in shock over what he'd just heard. Being a cop wasn't a stretch for Kyle. He was always fiercely protective and even had a job as a mall security guard at one point. He couldn't believe a small town stay at home mother and wife joined the fore after finding this rage and fire inside her. He could only call Elizabeth one thing- a survivor.

Kyle loved his wife met her when she was sick but in remission. He always treated her like fragile china glass. Once the tumors came back the gloves came back on even thicker. She was even frailer than before. He babied her and didn't even let her go outside because of germs. He was her protector. He was the force in her life. Elizabeth was so... different than his love. She didn't need protection. She held her own and was far from breakable. If having her toddler kidnapped and still out there with God knows who hadn't killed her.

"My wife died... not peacefully in her sleep... but suffered. She was in constant pain every miserable day of her life and I was useless. All I could do was sit around and help her manage her pain and watch as she became weaker and weaker until she withered away. I'm glad she isn't suffering anymore, but why? why? why? Why must bad things happen to good people? My life is in shambles. My son has no mother and hardly a father. I'm a piece of shit absentee dad. Sure, he has clothes, food and a roof over his head but he lost me when I lost her. I just want justice, Elizabeth. That is why I am here."

Elizabeth had big tears in her wide compassionate eyes. She nodded to acknowledge her partner's pain. Elizabeth knew he needed a hug, but it had taken so long for her to drag this out of him, she didn't want to chance him recoiling into himself again. "How do you take your coffee, partner?"

"Huh?" Kyle looked up confused as Elizabeth had his coffee in one hand a spoon full of sugar in the other. "Cream? Sugar?"

Kyle stared aimlessly ahead. Like a deer in headlights. This shocked him for some reason. He had no words but nodded and she started to stir away. He took a sip and it was delicious. It had been so long since someone had asked him that. or taken the time to ask him anything. It was so kind of her. He really missed having a woman's touch around. "Thank you, Liz."


	3. Dad's Hope

One night that week my father came home very late. It was still his first week on the force so I was worried with him so new in the line of duty. His car pulled into the drive way and as he opened the front door he had this huge smile plastered on his face and started laughing all the way to the living room.

"Dad?" I started confused and shell-shocked as I watched him walk away. Unsure how to react to this unfamiliar shift. My father hadn't cracked a smile in years! I worried something may have broke him mentally.

"Dad, are you... alright?"

"I'm sorry son. I was having so much fun I lost track of time. Order yourself a pizza." Dad palmed me a twenty dollar bill and jumped onto the couch, kicking his feet up in the air. He seemed to get lost in the nostalgia of his night. I set the money on the coffee table and got to my knees at the side of my father. I stared at him directly and unshakably. "Dad... you haven't had fun in years..."

"Oh, so you think your old man forgot how to have fun?" He laughed and teased me playfully before running to the window. He threw open the curtains revealing bleak darkness from the night outside. "God, isn't it beautiful out?"

"If you say so, old man."

On the inside I was jumping for joy. I felt glee wash away the pain I'd suffered watching my broken father suffer. I sat next to dad to give him full and undivided attention. I felt so happy for him and truthfully I was excited to listen to him recapture the night to me. He roared with laughter telling me how his new partner talked him into playing putt putt golf. Apparently he was so rusty he had to cheat to keep up with her. Dad was caught red-handed cheating and he mimicked his partners voice as he quoted her saying 'can't get nothing passed a detective'

Like a small child hiding a secret he acted so animated. So lively. It was watching my father come back to life again. He had life breathed into him. He had color on his face. He had a soul.

"Dad, what about mom?" I didn't ask to harsh his mellow. I didn't ask because I wanted him to hold on- he'd held on too long. I asked because as much as I loved my mother, I wanted to put her in our past and move on. The memory of her caused us so much pain as a family. It almost split us up. I know she wouldn't have wanted that to be true, but it was. My father had no coping skills dealing with her loss.

My father looked at me, his smile softened and he placed his hand on my shoulder, man to man. "Gabe, I'll always love your mother, but it is time for me to move on and find happiness. Who knows... maybe your mother sent Elizabeth my way to be my angel... my saving grace."

There was so much hope in that sentiment. especially from man who was turning his back toward the divine. He was now speaking again of angels and grace. He was starting to fall for this "angel." head over heels in love. I knew I couldn't stop him. I just needed to pray and pray that no matter what happens... she'd never hurt him. I don't think his heart could take losing love again.


End file.
